Tastes, can change Mr Atwood
by Elven-English-Major
Summary: SLASH Ryan is suddenly awakened by the sound of a car crash...this event causes a turn in his life and suddenly, it isn't Marissa he's thinking about anymore.
1. The Setup

Chapter 1- Setup for something new

A/N 'The OC' does not belong to me, none of the characters from Orange County belong to me, nor their companies, schools etc. The character that will be introduced a little later will seem similar to the 'phantom of the opera'. A brief explanation, he is my own character and is the son of the 'phantom of the opera', so just in case I cross any boundaries there, anything similar to the phantom belongs to either Gaston Leroux, or Etienne De Mendes. Finally, the concept of the character "Araylen" whom you meet right away, is taken from 'Buffy the Vampire slayer', so I think that covers all the credit where credit is due also thank you to Egan for lending me the use of Ammon for a while.

The solid crunch of one car impacting another, followed by the screeching of once well oiled brakes skidding wildly out of control. A moment later, a heart sickening crunch of metal on trees and the explosion of glass as a window exploded out of its frame. These were the sounds that woke Ryan Atwood from his weekend sleep.

He roused himself slowly at first, thinking perhaps it was only the remnants of some nightmare were he was once again with Trey, once again stealing cars for nothing but kicks and because it was his brother. These dreamlike thoughts came to a swift and dramatic conclude of reality when he heard a car door open and a women's frantic cry of "Oh my God!!"

He ran from the pool house and sprinted up and around the side, coming to the front yard just as Kirsten, Sandy and Seth emerged out of the front door, all of them still in their pyjamas.

Out front was a scene from a twisted action movie, many of their neighbour's peering out their front doors, or gathering at the ends of their walkways. Julie and Jimmy cooper came over to join Kirsten and Sandy at the end of their drive, all of them, save Julie, hovering close by to see if there was anything that could be done to help.

Carry Branson, their neighbour from down the street was standing beside her car, with it's right front bumper crushed in, metal demolished and paint chipped, looking horrified, but she wasn't looking at her car.

For several moments no one could figure out what exactly she was looking at, Ryan however remembered the crunch of metal, the screech of desperate tires. He looked around and spotted the other wreck a split second before everyone else.

The entire drivers side of the small compact car was dented in and from were he stood both a passenger and the driver were slumped in their seats unconscious.

It only took about two terrifying seconds before Sandy was on his cell phone, thrusting it into Kirsten's hands, and running full tilt towards the wrecked car. Jimmy, Ryan, Seth and several other neighbour hood men in tow.

Jimmy tried the handle of the driver's side but it was either locked or stuck fast. "It's locked." He reported shaking his head.

"Move" Ryan said stiffly and shrugged off his sweater.

Their small party did as the young man ordered and backed up to protect themselves against the crunching sound of shattering glass, as Ryan wrapped his warm black sweater around his hand and arm and broke the window, reaching in he undid the latch but immediately saw another obstacle.

"I think he's stuck under the dash" he observed as Sandy and Jimmy pulled him away.

"That happens sometimes." Jimmy said quickly as he got in and on his knees to see what they could do. He let out a low whistle through his teeth and stepped back.

"He's real tall Sandyhe's crunched in there pretty good" the younger man said.

Sandy shook his head. "Seth, Ryan go to the other side and see what you can do about getting the passenger out." He ordered.

Both boys, followed their fathers instructions and ran around to the other side to find out what they could do. Thankfully with a littler direction from Jimmy, and the fact that he had been thrown clear of most of the crunched metal, it took almost nothing for them to get him out and to the road where Kirsten laid out a blanket for them to put him on.

The crew of men who had been working to free the taller of the two men had only just gotten him out, when the fire and ambulance crews arrived on site.

"Who are our victims?" One of the paramedics asked Sandy and Jimmy, as they struggled the taller man to the road as well.

"We don't know." The lawyer said shaking his head in emphatic over-excitement.

The paramedic nodded and patted them both down as his partner worked to stabilize their necks and get basic vitals. "Probably brothers." He commented as he read the name.

"Both of the family name of Keith" he said shrugging.

Sandy nodded his head and watched as the paramedics secured the men into the back of the ambulance, trying to wake them using ice, gently slapping them, and calling their names quite loudly. He never actually heard their names but he hoped they would be ok.

Once the ambulance had left, Sandy went inside, since Carry had discreetly left only her card with her name and number on it, he secured a tow truck and took care of all the details that he could in accordance with their pastel green Jetty now completely destroyed in the ditch opposite their house.

Sandy and Kirsten walked back inside the house to the foyer where Ryan and Seth stood looking worried, nervous and confused. "How are they?" Ryan asked.

Kirsten forced a smile "Unconscious but stable it seems" she said touching both their faces, kissing both of them on the cheek before disappearing into the kitchen.

Sandy too forced a smile and patted both their shoulders, one hand each. "Hang tight men-and maybe don't drive anywhere today, for your mother's sake." He said and headed out towards his office area of the house.

The boys nodded and looked at each other, standing there for several minutes completely lost in their thoughts, not sure of what to do or what to say.

"So you wanna?" Seth offered.

"It's for the best" Ryan agreed closing his eyes and nodding his head.

Several hours later found Seth and Ryan deeply involved in a complex war video game. "LeftLEFT LEFT! LEFT LEFT!" Seth cried out successively louder, then let out a deep groan of annoyance and frustration as Ryan failed to negotiate the appropriate turn.

"Saved by the bell" an amused Ryan said as the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hello" a voice, quiet and tired sounding responded.

"I am attempting to contact a Sanford Cohen" the voice continued in it's laconic manner.

"Hang on" the boy replied, not thinking anything of it.

He got up and went into the kitchen, where as luck would have it, Sandy was making a sandwich. "For you" Ryan mouthed, holding the phone out in his direction.

Licking his thumb and putting down his knife and the bread, he wiped his hands on a nearby towel and took the phone. "Hello?" a pause.

"Yes this is Sandy Cohen." Followed by another pause.

"Oh" he said and his face grew soft and a little grave, touched with excitement.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do." He said and quickly jotted something down.

"I would be honoured to do that, and I'll bring all the information you might need as well." He said and nodded his head.

"Ok, I'll be there soon" he said and hung up the phone.

He grabbed his coat and made for the door, like a bird taking off after spotting a hovering hawk.

"Dad?" Seth asked, coming in from the side room as his father ran past.

"That was Mr. Araylen Keith." He said, pre-empting any questions the boys might have about his mysterious phone call.

"Who now?" Seth asked, but Ryan understood.

"Keith" he muttered, then snapped his fingers as the recognition clicked in his head.

"One of the guys from this morning?" He asked, shocked and marginally confused.

Sandy nodded his head. "Yeah, he's awake and relatively unharmed, he wants to know who crashed into him, all the details about it, he's looking for a lawyer and he also would like to know about his car." He said and then smiled.

"Just the chance I wanted to start up with my pro-bono work again" he said and nodded as he disappeared out the door.

"Valid questions" Seth said as his dead disappeared down the road at a surprisingly record speed.

Just as his tail lights completely disappeared, Kirsten appeared down the stairs, fully dressed and coiffed. "Where's he going so fast?" She asked curiously, the obvious slight nervousness coming through in her voice.

"He's going to the hospital" Seth said nonchalantly pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

"What?!" She demanded in shock.

Seth was ignoring the matter at hand and the emotions that went along with them, the ones that applied to other people anywaysas always, so Ryan stepped in. "One of the accident victims woke up and called to ask about his car and stuff." The tall blonde boy explained patiently.

"Oh." She said, sipping her coffee in contemplative thought.

"Yeah" he said nodding his head.

"No use dwelling on it" Seth said and went into the video game room without another word of thought.

"He's handling this well" Kirsten joked. Ryan gave her his head smile and followed Seth back to their video game and being yelled at.

Sandy arrived at the hospital in due time, went to the reception desk and through the regular procedure of checking himself in and explaining why he was there and who he was there to talk to.

She waved him through with relatively no hassle considering his wife had basically built much of the hospital.

He walked to the room and took a deep breath, putting a neutral smile on his face he wrapped softly on the door, and walked in as the familiar soft, tired sounding voice bid him to do so.

"Sandy Cohen" he said with his smile in place, forcing himself not to have any reaction to the man sitting in the chair.

It was obviously the passenger, the shorter long haired man was seated in the chair for visitors, and he had it pulled up to the side of the bed of the taller man.

The shorter man had long honey brown hair, stained pink from the blood that had been badly washed out of it. His head had a bandage on the back above his scarred up slightly pointed ear. His arm was tightly bound up in a blue vinyl sling. His pale, decently featured face was cut and scratched from where the passenger window had exploded on impact with the tree, imploded obviously into his flesh. "Araylen Keith." He said, extending the slim hand, the only hand he had to offer.

Sandy shook it and stepped forward. "I woke to find a card among my rings and other affects." He said with a smiling, gently squeezing the ankle of the tall man in the bed.

He nodded slowly and smiled, he tood awkwardly for a few moments until Araylen. Carefully took a breath and pulled himself up, he sat quickly on Ammon's bed before the pain in his legs could strike him.

He gestured to his once occupied seat and Sandy sat, clicking open his briefcase, carefully making as little sound as he could so as not to disturb any sore heads that might be in occurrence because of the obvious.

"I had your car towed, the woman who hit you left her information, but not much else." He explained handing him a folder with his papers in it.

"I greatly appreciate that" Araylen nodded and fervently scrubbed his face, pausing a moment before going back to vigorously rub at his red, swollen eyes with a frustrated sigh.

His silver e yes were blood shot to the point of almost looking like pink-eye, his face was set with lines and wrinkles and he looked very old. He looked though that he probably would, under normal circumstances, look very strong, handsome and young. He had a wisdom in his eyes that Sandy had only ever seen in the eyes of dying old men. The wisdom that comes with learning too many gruesome things the hard way, learning things about life that no one would wish upon their worst enemy.

Araylen blinked several times and cleared his throat, he had been alternating between fits of calm, and sobbing his heart out all morning and he had called this man to A) Find out information, and B) find some way to maintain his composure.

"You ok?" Sandy asked after a moment.

"Ah." Araylen said and put his hand once more on Ammon's ankle, stroking his fingers across the roughened flesh.

"Yes, I uh...require prescription eyeglasses, conspicuously and annoyingly missing from my personal affects upon waking" he explained with a soft smile.

That might explain why the man was always slightly squinting and looking a little to his left, since Sandy had come in...

"My wife-she took yours and your brothers bags from your car..." he began slowly.

"No offense meant, she only wanted to avoid the risk of..."

"It getting damaged or stolen" Araylen said, finishing his interrupted sentence.

Sandy nodded "Exactly" he said and smiled at the other man, removing from his breast pocket the small square case that Araylen's spare glasses were kept in.

"So my wife...being my wife, told me to bring these, assuming that yours were probably damaged irreparably in the crash" he explained and passed them to him.

Gratefully the man took them and unfolded the plastic silver frames and slipped them on his face, immediately his pupils dilated and a smile touched his soft pink lips. "Thank you" he said with a reflexive, less pained sigh.

He looked back now, very closely examining the wounds on the other mans head and face, without touching them. Tears sprung once more to his eyes but he focussed on his guest and smiled at the brown haired lawyer.

Sandy smiled back, noticing the tears and looked at the other bed. "So...how's your brother doing?" he asked gently.

Araylen smiled and blinked back the tears, pursing his lips to hold back the tide of pain that was brewing in his heart. "He is not my brother" he managed through a tight throat.

"Oh...I'm sorry...I just assumed..." Sandy said, trailing off a little confused.

"He...he is my husband" he managed to choke out and three tears broke through and trickled down his face.

Sandy went silent and laid a large hand on the shaking shoulder, sitting in silence for several minutes, Araylen finally managed to stop crying. "Forgive me" he managed and took in a deep, shuddering breath to once again stem the tide.

He had cried already several times but had not yet actually allowed himself to feel the whole of the situation. He wanted to take care of all the details that went along with it first, before he let himself panic about the situation itself.

"No no," Sandy said and shook his head. "I think I'd be doing a lot worse then you are if it were Kirsten." He explained gently.

"Your wife?" he asked and nodded along with him.

Sandy smiled and patted his shoulder before taking his hand back in his lap.

"I would like to thank you Mr. Cohen, and hire you as my ...our lawyer..." he said with a small nod and the only smile he could muster.

"Sandy, please and it's my pleasure, if you need anything, anything at all don't hesitate to call." he said standing up and once more extending his hand and shaking Araylen's again.

Araylen nodded and his eyes fluttered closed as he suddenly felt drained once more, either the medicine, stress or a combination of them both.

"I'll call you when I know anything about anything" Sandy said as he backed towards the door and slowly opened it.

Araylen curled up into Ammon's strong, lean side and cuddled up, he nodded in Sandy's general direction as once more, the small man began to cry over his ailing husband.

Several days later saw the Cohen residence settling back down into some semblance of a normal day. There were of course, a few reminders of the happenings of the past. The bags, tucked off into the side of the entrance way, neatly zipped up and stacked, waiting for a direction to travel in.

This coupled with Kirsten's constant fussing over them, she had created care packages and packed a bag for each man, sending Sandy over with them when he had some of the legal paperwork for Araylen to sign against Carry for her actions.

On this warm afternoon, Sandy was on the phone to Jimmy, talking to him about the rising stock market and monetary ventures, warning him about this and that and more or less debating him about what he should be doing-the usual.

Kirsten was sitting outside by the pool, sipping tea and reading a business magazine in which the Newport Group was strongly featured. Ryan and Seth having just arrived home from wherever it is they were collectively supposed to be, goofing off somewhere no doubt, were settling down to enjoy some video games.

The house and most of the surrounding neighbourhood having seemingly all but forgotten the happenings of the past, and the close brush with death and loss of life and limb it had suffered.

All this, was broken up by a timid knock at the door. Seeing as he was on the phone, and there were two teenage boys in the house, Sandy thought nothing of as he pulled open the door, still talking, he stopped mid-sentence and almost dropped the phone. "Jimmy...I'll have to call you back" he said shocked as he saw who stood on the other side of his door.

"Araylen" He greeted the man quietly.

Araylen stood and smiled at him weakly. "I..rather embarrassing as it is, I have no where to go." he explained with a sigh, tears welling into his eyes, as he fought to keep his composure to the very best of his ability.

"Well come on in and give us the song and dance" Sandy said making a sweeping motion to allow the other man into his home.

"Thank you" he said and sighed softly as he entered into the house.

"I know it must be terribly injurious to you and your wife Sandy, but...I just need to make a few phone calls, to our bank in Brigham county...to my children, to our friends." he said with a sigh, shaking his head.

"Primarily to our bank in Brigham." he said and sighed once more, shaking his head.

"Money issues?" Sandy asked carefully as he led him through the kitchen room and through the living room and towards the patio door.

"Sort of...I cannot get our insurance card to work and I am unsure as to how to engineer anything else." he explained in brief as they approached the semi frosted glass door.

As the two men emerged through to the patio, Kirsten looked up, seeing his damaged condition and the soft gaze with which Sandy was talking to him, she realized that this must be Araylen. "Oh my goodness." she said and smoothed out her hair.

"Lady Cohen...I am sorry for my injuring intrusion and fully intend to compensate you in full for any cost I might happen to be to you." He said bowing as best he could over her hand, he kissed it ever so gently.

Totally taken aback for a moment, Kirsten fully accepted his words and smiled at him, a blush filling her high, pale cheekbones. "No worries." she said, patting his hand with gentle fingers.

"Would you like some, coffee? A bagel?" she offered with a nervous, jittery sweep of her hand.

"As gracious as your offer is, and as much as I would appreciate it...I cannot for the interference of my medication." he explained with a weak, exhausted smile.

"Ah" she said and sat down, gesturing for the two men to do the same thing, which following procedure they did.

"As I have said already to Sandy," Araylen began.

"I'll get it" Sandy said remembering the point of his strange acquaintances visit, Sandy got up and jogged to get the phone, quickly jogging back to hand it to the young man.

"Thank you" Araylen said, biting his lip he looked at the other couple nervously, not wanting to say something.

"We'll just be in the kitchen if you need anything. Press talk and dial the number" Kirsten said as she and Sandy headed quickly back into the kitchen, pulling the door tightly shut behind them.

Araylen smiled and nodded at them until they disappeared and then he hit the corresponding button and dialled.

His first phone call went to Norah's house. "Hello?" came the slight accent as the phone was picked up.

"Norah..." he began but held his tongue in check fully expecting her panicked interruption.

"WHERE. IN THE HELL. HAVE YOU BEEN?!" She roared at the top of her fairly exponential lung capacity.

"We get back from the country, fully expecting you to be there and Malcolm is on the doorstep freaking out, he can't find Ammon's life presence anywhere, but somehow, magically, mystically, he knows that somehow, Ammon is in pain. HOW THE HELL DOES THAT WORK?" The blonde ranted.

"Are you finished?" He asked almost, almost amused.

"Yes. Quite." she answered, in the same tone.

"Well...it is a rather long story, but in short we got lost and ended up down a street where we got hit at excessive speeds by a rather large jelly bean purple hummer." he said simply, and paused, trying to crack his injured shoulder without causing himself too much pain.

"WHAT?!" She screeched and there was a thud as s he dropped the phone. Her tone of voice was panic stricken terror combined with a wave of nausea.

"Ammon was near run through with a large portion of the car and his lower half was crushed almost literally by the weight of the car." he began to explain, calming himself down.

" 'K well, most of the boys are still out in the boonies, but I'll go and get 'em myself...we'll be on our way as soon as we possibly can. No longer then two days-at the most." she said.

"Thank you...for some reason our insurance card refused to work and so I had to use all of our paper money to pay for this hospital bill, never mind the ever encroaching debts I seem to be amassing, as I am not in the hospital anymore, my bill is no longer due, but Ammon is going to be there for quite some time and I am...completely adrift at what it is I am supposed to be doing." he said all in once breath.

Norah listened lovingly and quietly "Where exactly are you?" she asked softly.

"A place by the name of Newport beach." Came the sad, tearful reply.

"Ok I'll go get Aaron and his credit cards and massive rich boy bank account and we'll be there soon ok?" she said calmly.

"Thank you Norah. Thank you and...I need you" he whispered.

In her typical manner she said nothing, but he could imagine her comforting, warm smile as the phone hung up, echoing in his pointed ear with a desolate, empty, abandoning click.

A sigh broke through his lips, and before he could lose his mind he called his bank. "Hello?" he asked as the phone was picked up.

"Hello, thank you for calling Brigham County first branch bank...all of our lines are currently busy but if you hold, one of our operators will be with you as soon as one is available." the cheery voice called to him, but it may as well have been laughing.

He hung up the phone and put it on the table, a sigh broke through his lips and for a moment, he thought that was all that was coming.

All of a sudden it hit him all at once and his knees collapsed out from under him and he fell to the ground sobbing hysterically.

Hearing it Kirsten peered around the corner and came over to him, quiet as a church mouse. "Did you get everything you needed?" she asked in a soft voice, so gentle he could hardly hear it over his sobs.

"No" he choked out and his body was racked with sobs as he curled himself into a fetal position and cried.

"I am so afraid he is going to die." the man sobbed, his boding shaking with the dry, heaving sobs.

"Kirsten knelt and patted his arm, fingers curling around his lower arm muscles in comfort, hugging him as tightly as she dared due to his dislocated shoulder. "I know, but I can assure you we have the best doctors here in Newport...you can get everything you need and Sandy and I will help you with all the problems in the meantime." she said slowly, carefully.

"I know, and I am in no position to argue with you, nor do I have any intention to do so, as I know that I require help, at least until my friends and family arrive from our home." The man said with a sigh.

Kirsten held him for a few minutes until he had calmed down a little and then they moved to a sitting position, braced up against the back of the couch. He took a deep calming breath and looked at her with a sad smile. "Thank you for tolerating my lack of composure, and thank you for allowing me the chance to grieve and so forth." he whispered.

"No problem, and if you don't want me to tell my husband," she winked at him to finish her sentence.

The moment was broken as the phone rang a few times, broken by someone picking it up in the kitchen extension.

Kirsten helped him gently to his feet and handed him several tissues stroking his long hair as he calmed himself down, doing everything she could to try and be of service to this gentle man who's very presence seemed to bring gentility to their home.

There came a soft knock on the door and Araylen and Kirsten turned to it, once again the moment was neatly broken by Sandy as he offered a smile. "That was the garage." he said with a forced cheery tone in his voice.

"Oh yes?" Araylen asked with a lifted brow, a measure of calm, confusion came into his voice.

"Yeah, they have it all fixed up and are ready for somebody to get it." he said

Araylen smiled, but it was rather bittersweet. "Yet another bill I am going to have to pay." he said shaking his head.

"I suppose that I shall just go to the hospital for now, I intend to inquire if I can stay with Ammon for part of his stay, at least until Aaron arrives with bank information or money." He said deep in thought, slipping his glasses off his face in thought.

"You're out?" Kirsten asked gently.

"Yes, as far as the scheme of things goes, my injuries are nothing, they simply wanted to insure that A) my head was alright, only in pain and cut not impeded by any internal damage that could not be located, and B) because they wanted to make sure that I was mentally stable after escaping such a horrendous crash." he explained, glad to have something to keep his mind off of his troubles.

Kirsten put a hand on his arm. "Araylen, you are more then welcome to come and stay here with us, it would be no trouble and I would much rather think of you here with us then in a hotel all alone somewhere." she said softly.

Araylen nodded. "Thank you, for your kind offer" he said with a sigh.

"I love Ammon, and I would love to stay with him all the time, but quite frankly I think my heart is already full to bursting with the emotional investment it takes to watch him lavish in so much pain...to see his face, smell his smell, touch his body and not have him respond." already, tears had begun working their way down his face.

"It is just too much for me." the librarian said with a sigh.

"It's ok." she said and took his arm gently steering him towards the kitchen.

"We would be more then happy to have you here." she flourished.

Sandy followed her. "More then happy, you know, it might even do the boys some good to have a teacher in the house-they might actually learn something." the lawyer said with a wink at his wife.

A flurry of business followed, settling Araylen into the pool house, displacing Ryan was a minor side effect but Ryan was only too complacent. Araylen had claimed that the couch was more then enough accommodation for him, but Kirsten insisted that he take the bed considering his health. Towels, sheets, pillows, his bags, everything he could possibly need to make his stay a comfortable one was put into place, they ate their evening meal in two shifts, adults and the boys when they eventually trickled in again, and then unanimously decided that bed would be a good place to go, agreeing to start fresh in the morning.

Araylen slept heavily throughout the night, all the doors to the pool-house thrown open to allow the outside air into him, creeping moonlight fed his skin and nourished his soul.

He woke before the sun rose fully into the sky, he slid out of his sleeping skin and stretched his arms into the air, and allowed himself to feel ever so slightly better.

He walked to a nearby tree that sat in the yard, and sat down closing his eyes in retrospective thought. He spoke gently to the tree, asking it to tell him everything it knew.

He was told stories of love _"Dude, that could be...my grandma!" _of woe _"I'm a mess, not a mother" _of laughter. _"Zach! How are you buddy? So good to see you!" _of pain and sadness comparable to his own. _"She's suing for sole custody..." _Through the anecdotes he began to feel very comfortable at the Cohen's.

He stood up and now, fully awake, walked into the dark and silent house. His sharp and pointed ears pricked and he heard the sounds of a house slowly waking from it's silent slumber.

The light snores of teenage boys, asleep but not in the deepest stages of sleep. The ruffling of sheets and soft mumble of voices as Kirsten and Sandy began to wake up.

Araylen didn't want to be rude or presumptuous so he sat att he table, thinking, his hands folded neatly, the fingers tumbling and kneading with his thoughts.

As thoughts of Ammon pierced his focussed, but slowly unravelling mind Araylen got up to pace, trying to rid himself of the thoughts that shook his control.

He took note of a book as he entered the living room, laying abandoned by the arm of the couch, he walked over and picked it up, fingers soothing over the glossy cover "Cavalier and Clay?" He muttered aloud to himself.

A brow lifted and he sung onto the sofa, cracked the book open and immediately became all absorbed in the story.

Ryan, unused to sleeping anywhere but the pool-house was the first one to actually get up and out of bed-or so he thought.

Woken, thankfully, not by the crush of cars or Seth's incoherent babble but by someone running water in a different part of the house, causing it to rush through the walls in a roaring sound.

He headed down stairs towards the kitchen and went about making coffee, pouring himself a bowl of his favourite cereal in the process. He turned around and almost dropped the bowl in shock.


	2. The Arrival

Chapter two

Chapter two

The Arrival

A/N

Well…I hadn't actually intended to keep going with this story, but apparently there's interest so…Here is the second chapter, shorter then the last one and you have my apologies, but I have to slowly switch focus and it is a rather difficult process. Another credit note-Araylen is an elf, which is why he can talk to trees, aspects of his elf-hood taken from 'Lord of the Rings' …so if there was confusion about his skills, there it is. Alright, Enjoy, and thank you for the Review.

"Seth you scared the hell out of me" Ryan said, shaking his head and took a spoonful of cereal.

Seth made a grand gesture for Ryan to be quiet which received a massive brow quirk along with a completely confused look from the other boy.

"Be stealth Ryan, and behold the beauty of a librarian reading 'Cavalier and Clay'" He whispered, gesturing at the man stretched out on the couch, about three quarters of the way through the book.

Sandy came in dressed and with a smile of rest and excitement on his face. "Good morning gentlemen" he boomed in his usual way as he headed straight for his coffee and bagel.

Seth made the gesture again and then sighed and his chin touched his chest in defeat. "Dad, you're supposed to be stealth" he said, expecting as he peaked into the next room, the librarian to be off of the couch to join them

"Why are we being stealth?" Kirsten asked as she entered both the kitchen and the conversation.

"Well, because Seth here, is watching Mr. Kieth read his book" Ryan replied conversationally, making a face in Seth's direction, who returned the look with one of utter triumph.

"Ooooh score, and he is still reading" Seth said and dove after his own coffee before his parents and brother could get it all.

Araylen vaguely heard his name mentioned but he couldn't join the lazy breakfast activity-the story was too much involved now and he knew the pages of the book would be hurt if he didn't finish them.

He finished in due course, everyone was still in the kitchen because of course, the centre of house excitement resided around Araylen's presence within the house.

When he finished the book he came into the room and smiled softly at the family talking and hanging out around the island. "Good morning" he said and smiled at them all, snapping his back as he crawled up onto one of the stools to sit next to Ryan.

"You really are some kind of bookworm eh?" Sandy teased as the librarian helped himself to a bagel.

He laughed and nodded his head. "Habit I'm afraid, my profession insists I know what a book is about before I say a word about it, and once I have begun it would be insult to the tome itself not to finish it" he replied in kind, a smile taking his rested lips.

Kirsten smiled as Ryan continued eating, Sandy slurped at his coffee and Seth immediately pounced on the chance to have a conversation with Araylen about his favourite book of all time.

Laughing out loud at Seth's enthusiastic mannerisms, she looked up at the sound of the doorbell.

"Probably Jimmy" Sandy said with a smile, but made no movement to stand up and answer the door himself.

She rolled her eyes and threw up her hands saying, "No one jump to it or anything" she said and then whisked out of the room before anyone could say anything-not that anyone but Ryan noted her words.

She opened the door and smiled politely at the man who stood on the other side, looking him up and down with mildly hidden surprise. He was taller then she was, taller then even her boys, his sharp blue eyes were filled with kindness and sweetness, though he had deep purple bags under them, in spite of apparent exhaustion, she liked him immediately. His face was thin and square, angular and sharp at the same time, his lips were full and neatly curved and his hair curled down along his jaw line, at one point having been tied up in a neat ponytail bound at the nape of his neck.

His long torso was clad in layers of black with an ascot underneath of deep blue lace, he wore a slightly wrinkled peasant shirt underneath the suit and on the bottom wore simple black pants with black boots to finish it off.

With the addition of his long black velvet cloak he looked as if he had stepped straight out of the eighteenth century. His voice broke through her examination of him, and she snapped her head up with a patient and attentive look in her eyes.

"Good morning Madame." He said and his voice was deep and clear, resonating in tone and musically trained. His French accent inflected his voice with a rather hardy lilt, causing his words to come up and down.

"Good morning" she returned with a polite smile.

"I was informed that an Araylen Kieth could be reached at this residence…" he began by way of introducing his purpose.

"Oh! Sure!" Kirsten said and pushed the door open wider.

"Come on in," she said and led him towards the kitchen where everyone was still sitting.

"Araylen had said that he wasn't expecting anyone in less then two days, but I know he'll be very excited to have someone come so quickly." She said.

He laughed and nodded his head . "Yes, the others will be much delayed, but when I heard Norah's description of events I knew that Araylen would be getting desperate and much debilitated at this point, and so I came as quickly as means would allow" He said by way of explanation.

"I am Aaron, by the way" he said and extended his hand to Kirsten with a warm smile.

She took his hand and shook it warmly. "Kirsten Cohen" he returned the shake and kissed the back of her hand at the end.

Laughing and charmed she led him fully into the kitchen interrupting Seth's rather loud tirade with a loud cry of; "We have another guest" to her family, thrilling in the prestigious moment.

Araylen let out a cry and then he leapt up from his seat, complete cutting Seth off and fled into the French man's arms. "Aaron" he whimpered against his black clad chest.

Aaron wrapped long, slender arms around his small body and rocked him back and forth ever so gently. "What on earth, how?" Araylen muttered, face still pushed up against his front.

"First I hired a taxi to drive me as far as it would and then I hired a private helicopter, I am only sorry I could not arrive here sooner then I did" he whispered and stroked the long golden brown hair.

"Well I suppose that when one has the means, the method is moot" he said, hiccupping through his joyous, relieved sobs.

The Cohen's looked on with relative confusion, Ryan felt a little weird, as if they shouldn't be watching this, Kirsten felt joyous that Araylen could have a little relief and happy to be a part of it, Sandy was more then happy that Araylen had his own support system now and Seth was a little put out because he had no idea what was going on and was being neglected…again, though he was happy to see that some of the tension had washed out of the room.

"A helicopter?" he mouthed at his father, who just shrugged, eyes distractedly flitting back to the two men before him.

Ryan was staring at the newcomer, and the look on Araylen's face and for a moment was filled with jealousy, no one had come rushing to his aid like that when he'd had an accident back home, when his mother had been so wounded she was supposed to be in the hospital for days on end, but was kicked out because they couldn't afford it.

It turned to ruffled contentedness as Aaron turned and Araylen moved to formally introduce his friend-it wasn't fair for Ryan to be so upset over not having help when it wasn't this man's fault.

"My kindest, dearest hosts," Araylen began in a tone so exuberant, he almost sounded drunk.

"This is a friend of mine-Aaron Devreux" he said and looked around at them all.

"Aaron, this is Sandy, my lawyer whom is handling our case, his wife Kirsten whom I assume you've met, and their sons, Seth and Ryan" he said gesturing to each in turn.

Aaron nodded to each individual but was much distracted, to the Cohen's Araylen seemed calm and even happy, but to Aaron who had his strong arm wrapped around Araylen's thin waist, and who had fought beside Araylen in situations similar to this, he knew it was the direct opposite.

Whilst Araylen's spirits had visibly improved with his entering the room, the French man could feel that he elf's entire body shook from head to toe.

As he had walked in, sharp eyes had seen the puffiness and redness, the swollen complexion and bags deeper then his own under the other mans kind eyes.

All of this had registered before blue eyes had even examined the injuries, or noted that his arm was up in a sling.

Kirsten broke the moment with her wide smile, and mothering ways. "Do you need a place to stay Aaron?" she asked.

He turned and gave her a look so full of worry and nerves that her smiled deepened. "Seth, Ryan would you please go and get the cot from the basement?" she said and turned away, going towards the stairs and the linen closet.

Aaron was so taken aback by her demeanour that he looked over at Araylen nervously, the librarian looked back and smiled softly.

After a moment of shifting Aaron slid off his cloak and draped it over the back of one of the chairs around the island. "I will help you" he said pulling off his waist coat he followed the two teenagers towards the stairs.

"Cool, I'm Seth" the other boy said and waved as he thunked down the stairs.

"Ryan" the blonde said with a purse lipped smile.

He nodded at them both and they descended the stairs, as the teenagers set up Aaron's bed and fussed about trying to follow Kirsten's directions, only one among them knew that something was going to change, very, very soon.

A/N Alright so Aaron has made his appearance, If it was too sudden or something please do let me know, and again, thank you very much for the review.


	3. The Enemy

Chapter Three

The Enemy

A/N- Ok, just a little quick discussion of the timing, this has no season setting, it is set with characters and situations from both season one and season two so if that's confusing there it is…I wanted to have elements of both seasons, so yes, we have Luke and Oliver, quotes in chapter one about things later in season two, a little while later we'll have Zach and Lindsay too so….just so everyone's aware. Also, I still don't own the OC or anything in it, they still belong to other people, Araylen's still an elf, and Aaron is still the son of the phantom of the opera…I own none of it…ok, enough of me.

Enjoy!

As soon as Aaron was set up in the pool house with Araylen, he proposed a visit to the hospital, which Araylen was grateful for, so with a few words to Kirsten and Sandy they left in Aaron's rented car.

Attempting to settle back into normal life routine became a little easier when Summer and Marissa showed up. The girls hung around for a while, and Sandy and Kirsten came in and out, no one really ready to settle down, and everyone curious and nervous and wondrous all at once.

A little while later in the afternoon, in fact closer to evening when Aaron arriven home, he walked into the games room and stopped short, as he saw an entourage of people-the girls whom he'd never seen as well as the boys who he barely knew.

He looked around at them nervously, a little frightened and cautious. "Oh! Who's this?" Summer asked quirking her brows at him, shooting a teasing wink at him, but only to rile Seth up.

Seth shifted her weight in his lap and glared at her with a childish pout to offset it. Ryan, seeing his brother's complete and total distraction rolled his eyes and jumped in. "Um, this is Aaron Devreux, Aaron this is my girlfriend Marissa and her friend and Seth's girlfriend Summer" he said gesturing towards the girls and then smiled briefly and turned back to the game he and Seth were playing.

"He's the friend of the dude who got hit by the car." Seth said, shifting again, without looking up from the game as Ryan's character came at him again.

"Seth!" Ryan said sharply, watching Aaron wearily in case he was offended by Seth's lack of sensitivity.

Aaron smiled gently and nodded his thanks to the blonde for his consideration in checking with him.

"What is it you are playing?" He asked, his head tilted to the side so his hair curled over his thin shoulder.

"Oh just some fighting game I dunno" Marissa replied and shrugged her own thin shoulders, shooting a big smile up at the tall man.

Aaron quirked a brow in an expression of confusion and acknowledgement and then bowed slightly to her, leaving the room without a word of goodbye or explanation, he went out the back doors and he could faintly hear the pool house door opening and closing.

Ryan returned once more to the game, a little worried and marginally put out, it was strange to have someone leave the room in such a sharp fashion and he was afraid that Seth had really offended the other man, but that he was too polite or grateful or something to say anything about it.

However just as Ryan was feeling that he should go out and say something, Aaron returned with a book in his hand, he had changed, or at least lost some of his layers, as now he only wore a dark blue vest over a crisp white peasant shirt with black pants and black socks.

He sat on the couch-which thankfully everyone was sitting against-and in a motion that no one had ever seen the likes of before, he unfurled in his legs, like a cat would unfurl it's tail, and when he leaned back against the arm of the couch his legs hung over the other end. Cracking open his book and only half listening to the noise of the game and the chatter of the others in the background he allowed himself to be as social as he could with people he barely knew.

It was only a little past notable dinner time when Sandy came in carrying two pizza's and several paper plates. "Eat up Men, it's dinner time" he said and smiled at Aaron who looked up from his book and delivered a polite nod in Sandy's direction, saying volumes of thanks in just his deep blue eyes.

His position altered completely as Kirsten walked in with soda bottles and cups in her arms, because whilst the others sat and paused the game and arranged themselves around the table, he leapt to his feet, back straight and came to her taking the load out of her arms before she even made it five steps into the room. "Good evening" he said and bowed as much as he could with his armload.

"Thank you Aaron" She said and smiled at him, looking over at Sandy with a quirk of her brows as Seth just looked at him shocked.

"Dude, every second that goes by I think more and more that you're some time travelling count or something" he said and blinked up at him biting into his first bite of pizza with unrestrained relish.

Aaron lifted a brow and shrugged his shoulders, blushing to his hairline, he hated feeling like this, and hoped that no one thought he was trying to be anything or act in any sort of degrading way.

Kirsten saw it written in his face and sat down in a chair next to the table and began to serve herself as Aaron sat next to Sandy on the couch. "Where's Araylen?" she asked to break the tension.

"Ah" Aaron said and poured himself a glass of whatever soda was on the table.

"The hospital offered him a be so he could be near Ammon" he said, his voice gentle and solemn-for seeing Ammon cut up, bandaged and laying unconscious had been a very sobering sight.

"Oh, that's good" Sandy said, but Kirsten looked extremely worried.

"Yes, I know it will make him more at ease, a soothing play to his conscience, for he does not enjoy the idea of being out and about, moving at will through the world whilst Ammon lays hurt and alone." He said, kneading his fingers together out of anxiety.

"I just hope that he'll be really ok, and not too stressed" Kirsten said, voicing her worries and watching the look on his face more closely then she listened to the words on his lips.

"Seeing Ammon in so much pain may very well vex him more then I can possibly imagine or even think to explain, but it does more harm then good for him to be away from Ammon for very long-for them both" he finished, cryptically.

Kirsten looked at him for a long time and then smiled with a sigh. "…if you say so, I just want him to be ok" she said after a moment of silence.

Swallowing his politesse and his training of propriety Aaron mustered up all of his courage and turned fully to face her. "Without being too forward, and forgive me for the bluntness that I must apply to this matter, and of course, I mean no impostion, but is it alright if…" he trailed off pursing his lips and trying to gather the strength to actually speak of his problem other then just letting it sit, but once again, as was before, Kirsten was a mother and Sandy a father and both could see what was coming before it came.

"Of course you can stay, it makes no sense in you renting a car, helping Araylen pay his hospital bills and renting a hotel room for an indefinite amount of time" Kirsten said patting his arm.

"Yeah, besides," Seth said, piping in, in his usual manner."It might actually be interesting around here for a change, something different then video games and going out" he said and winked at Ryan.

"Someone else to initiate into the comic book summer club" he said and wiggled his eyebrows.

Although Aaron looked not exactly joyous at the ideal of joining the comic book club, he looked much relieved and very relaxed of the fact that he could now stay at the Cohen's without feeling worry, he looked over at Ryan, for he was the only one who hadn't spoken but the other boy was intent on his pizza, and Aaron hoped that just meant he was hungry and not anything else.

Night at the Cohen house just kept getting interesting however and soon Aaron had a lot more to listen to and a lot more temptation to join the conversation as two more boys joined the party only a little while after dinner was served.

"Hey man" a taller, broader boy with dirty blonde hair walked in and gave Ryan a clapping type of handshake that Aaron had never seen before, and then sat down beside him, as the smaller, lankier boy came in and sat down next to Marissa, giving her a hug before doing so, both Ryan and the taller boy shot him immensely dirty looks.

Oliver looked questioningly over at Aaron, nervous and jealous at the presence of yet another man in Marissa's life, "This is Aaron, he's staying with the Cohen's for a while." Marissa said, moving over to make room for Oliver.

Aaron smiled at them as each man greeted him in their own way, Aaron for his part was very interested in the way Marissa sat closer to Oliver then t Ryan and how he spoke about Seth's affairs before Seth had a chance to him self.

It was his impression that this was wrong, but anomalies to social norms but he said nothing as another thought in his head reminded him this wasn't his life so maybe that was the norm for these people, nor was it his place to say anything about it anyways.

A few moments later as conversation picked up Aaron found that his heard was fostering a distaste for the Trask boy, and as discussion of 'cultural' things intensified, his jaw twitched as he talked of opera, boasting of a small composed work, but left out a crucial key and when he continued on not even mentioning why it was left out, Aaron could no longer resist.

"Tell me," He began

"If you have two soprano's and a baritone, is it an all female production?" he asked neatly, a smirk playing in his eyes though his face was straight, as he didn't look up from his book.

Oliver didn't say much for a while but then took up chatter explaining how you could do without a tenor if you did certain things.

Jaw twitching in annoyance Aaron began to hum to block out the incessant hum of inane chatter that the ridiculous twit of a boy was putting out.

Marissa turned around "Wow-are you a singer?" she asked and they all turned to look.

He looked up "Yes" he said shyly, not sure what else to say.

"You can totally tell!" Summer said and Aaron nodded his head in her direction politely, ignoring totally the jealous stares of the boy who was sitting on the floor next to Marissa-who quickly began to talk about his own singing lessons he'd taken in Italy.

The slightly awkward moment for Aaron was broken by Luke cursing as Ryan made a goal.

So the night carried on until Summer declared it time to go and so dragged Seth out with her, asking him to walk her home, Marissa pecked Ryan on the cheek saying that Oliver was going to show her something and left with Oliver, who looked extremely self satisfied at the prospect of having Marissa all to himself once again.

Thus leaving Ryan, Luke, and Aaron, Aaron looked at the other two examining both of them with a careful look, he cleared his throat and attempted to bond with them. "If it is not terribly rude, that Trask child has not a wit of sense" he said, hoping desperately that it didn't offend.

"If that means he's full of it then yeah" Luke said, then pushed his hair out of his eyes.

"Ok, well it was nice to meet you," Luke said to Aaron then turned to Ryan with a sigh as they watched Marissa's tail lights disappeared.

"See ya man" He said and got into his truck shaking his head and shooting one last supporting smile at Aaron and Ryan before driving away himself.

Aaron noticed Ryan hadn't said anything, but his body language spoke volumes of his fury, and he almost shook physically.

Silently, Aaron let a hand on the other mans shoulder and squeezed comfortingly.

Ryan did shiver underneath his hand, but not out of fear, a warmth spread through him now he had an ally, and somehow, his heart felt stronger, and his will was fortified through the man's hand on his shoulder.


	4. The Wish

Chapter Four

The wish

A/N First of all hugs in return and thank you very, very much for the continued reviews, it gives me much motivation to continue. Second, my most profound apologies for the delay of this chapter but it has given me much grief in getting out because of the precarious position I have put Ryan in. Third and last, again, I offer profound apologies in the shortness of this chapter, but it is the short bridge which allows me to continue on with the deeper plot without too much stiffness, confusion, or awkwardness, and so I simply had to deliver something in order to continue. Thank you for your continued support.

-Enjoy!

In complete silence they split up, Ryan to go to his temporary room and think, and Aaron to sit outside, gazing out at the reflection of the moon in the pool, pursuing the same course of action as his counterpart on the inside.

Replaying the whole day, Aaron kicked angrily at the water, regardless of getting his boots and pants wet, his heart was falling for the blonde in the most chronic of ways, and he knew it would do little good, for the warmth and pain on his face showed just how deeply his heart craved and loved the girl, shutting Aaron and his maleness from the picture.

"Fool" he hissed at himself in the water, and then looked up to the stores and took a deep, cleansing breath of the warm night air.

Suddenly, French seemed so appropriate and English could no longer serve his purposes, no song took his mind in particular, though streams of words spewed into his mind, accompanying the echoing music that rattled in his skull.

When the abundance of sound in his skull became to loud and he could no longer hold back the tide, he began to sing, very softly at first but it burst his lips none the less.

His heart through music, began to release a little of his tension and he simply let his emotions spill forth, notes fell from his lips and trickled from his throat as fast and as precise as arrows on a battlefield, piercing flesh and killing the mortals of the world, abruptly he stopped the music and sighed once more, kicking at the water, this time in a dejected attempt to destroy his reflection.

Not even his precious music could abscond the horrible images in his mind. It was the sad reality of the French man in that moment, that he wanted something he could never have, and the hurt that penetrated a person's soul at this painful realization accompanied itself in Aaron's mind with profoundly destructive images.

Sitting there Aaron considered for a moment the possibility of his 'medication' to alleviate the pain and soothe his raging thoughts, but it passed, shooting straight opium into his veins was probably not the best way to win the trust of Kirsten and Sandy.

The thought passed, succeeded by a thought so sharp and searing that it caused him to start upright and surge straight to his feet, his eyes going wide with horror.

In his mind Aaron saw an image of the little leather case, filled with his sleep inducing delight, sitting on the shelf in his bathroom at home, left behind in Brigham, forgotten in the heat of the moment.

He turned hard on his heel and ran to the pool house in a frantic haze, he looked in his suitcase, literally pulling out every article that resided inside, throwing them distractedly around, and threw the suitcase itself to the ground when it produced nothing.

Horrified and desperate, he flew to his train case where his other toiletries were housed and clawed through it, dumping it out and kicking things around desperate to find his drugs, with no luck.

"No" He roared and threw his fist against the wall, shaking too hard to do any actual damage it was as if the addict had had nothing in the last week, despite having had his regular dosage only last night.

Snatching his keys from the table and storming through the room, his cloak billowing ominously behind him, Aaron ran to his car.

Gunning his keen mind as well as the car, he began to dwell over the issue of where, in such a rich and embellished seeming town, was he supposed to find a highly illegal, very expensive, high end addictive drug.

Driving through the whole town systematically turned up nothing, and Aaron began to panic further, as he turned down an alley and began to drive back towards the Cohen's ready to surrender to it and go without sleep, he was presented with a realization, and a distraction simultaneously.

The realization came in the form that he would simply call Norah, for they had not left yet he knew, because their flight left early the next morning, and have her grab the case from his vanity, causing his heart to slow and with it the car.

As the lights rounded the corner he saw a very stressed and strung out looking Oliver Trask.

As the headlights fell on both him and the man he was talking to, both parties began to walk quickly away, but not before Oliver shoved something in his pocket, Oliver peeked into the car as it drove past him, and though Aaron turned his head, he was left with the feeling that the boy had spotted and recognized him.

Arriving at the Cohen's Aaron walked purposefully into the kitchen, Kirsten had the phone in her hand and smiled at him as he walked in. "Want anything from the Chinese place?" she asked as she began to dial a number.

He shook his head and bowed respectfully all without stopping, he walked to Ryan and touched his shoulder with one gentle finger, his eyes speaking volumes as he gestured the other boy to follow him out of the room.

The blonde did so, understanding the language of silence and too tense to actually question anything he followed him outside and closed the door behind him.

"What's up?" He asked, recognizing the look of having seen something dreadfully inexplicable but terribly vexing simultaneously. Ryan took up a defensive posture, arms across his chest and his lips pursed together.

"The Trask boy" Aaron said sharply, jaw twitching in anger, his face deathly pale, but much of his complexion was due to his recovering from his momentarily bout with addiction.

"What about him?" Ryan asked, he was already on edge and just at the mention of that boys name his blood began to boil under the surface, arms dropping and fists tightening at his sides.

Aaron watched his face very carefully, was struck with the idea that maybe he had no right to interfere, he himself had been out for the very same purposes as Mister Trask, and so just because he did drugs, did not give him sufficient reason to think that it contributed to anything negative about his character.

Ryan saw it pass in his eyes, something that took him from extreme anger, to sudden guilt to a face of carefully trained neutrality, and it immediately made him suspicious, but he pressed his lips harder together, cooled his heels and waited.

Aaron cleared his throat, not knowing how good of a reader of emotions Ryan was, and severely underestimating him (Though he didn't know that then) and raised his head, hands clenched behind his back. "How are you feeling?" He asked in a caring tone.

While Ryan was touched with the genuine care and worry in his tone, he was not impressed by the fact that Aaron was acting like this, it made him hurt and suspicious for having people pity him but not truly care angered him and he was far too used to it to be good for him. "I'm fine." He said sharply, crossing his arms again.

"Bien" Aaron said and turned slowly around, closing his eyes and stemming a tide of tears, lying to someone your heart burned for was quite possibly the most painful thing a man could do.

"Aaron" Ryan called after him, voice waveringly angry as he bordered on demanding to know what he had actually wanted to say.

Closing his eyes, Aaron did not turn around. "Yes?" he replied, gently, sensing the anger and unconsciously flinching away.

"Thanks" The blonde said, unable to actually ascertain whether or not he had actually wanted to tell him something, though everything in his soul was telling him that he had.

"Of course" Aaron replied and kept walking, in long strides he disappeared into the pool house, locked the door, drew the curtains and collapsed on the bed to cry.

Ryan sighed and suddenly feeling very much not hungry went to the side of the house and tried Marissa, pacing for a while he tried to call Marissa and when she didn't pick up he lashed out and kicked the side of the house.

He went up to his room and began to pace, throwing objects at random whenever his calls to Marissa didn't go through, after about twenty-seven times literally, and getting through the last time only to have her yell at him that Oliver was having a hard time with drugs and to just be calm she wasn't doing anything he locked the door-avoiding Seth became one of his top priorities.

All he wanted was someone to hold him at that very moment, someone to take care of –him-. He wanted someone to talk to, who understood he was a human being.

Marissa was always running off to Oliver to coddle him through his problems, never realizing Ryan had his own.

Sandy nor Kirsten really understood that despite his touch exterior, he sometimes just needed to be poked, prodded and forced into accepting comfort.

Seth and Summer were incapable of understanding any one else's emotions, and Seth seemed to think that Ryan had none at all.

It was times like these that Ryan wished he could be physically smaller, or more emotional, or more readable at the very least, because at that moment, as he sunk down the wall, arms winding around himself to hold his own self, all of these things, all of these innate realities in his life made him realize that all he wanted, was to be able to talk about his problems, to be comforted with out anyone thinking anything of him, or taking anything away from him.


	5. The Incident

Chapter Five

The Incident

A/N Alright, first of all my profuse, profound, never ending apologies for the lateness of this chapter it's a long one so I hope that makes up for it. Also, many deviations from the show itself, for example the situation with the gun and the hotel is altered but the idea that was there is still there, coupled with the idea of her overdose in Mexico. Thank you so much for your reviews and your patience, hugs in return. Enjoy!!

The sun rose the next day, obscured by clouds and grey sky, as light revealed the occupants in varying states.

Seth lay on the floor of the hallway, not able to get into the room when he came back from Summer, he had finally given up and passed out on the hall carpet.

Ryan sat up in his computer chair, staring at the wall, fingers folding over each other, massaging and kneading alternately as his thoughts turned over inextricably in his mind.

Aaron switched between pacing and composing, chewing on his guilt and annoyance, eyes aching with the desire to just close them and be finished, but pursued by the unending inability to.

Kirsten and Sandy alone lay innocent and peaceful in their beds, unaware that with the breaking of the dawn would come a violent and crushing sequence of events.

As the inevitable came to pass, the defused sunlight woke or roused everyone to action and they assembled in the kitchen as was the norm.

When Ryan walked in, Seth was immediately on his feet, rustling up his hair and gave him an annoyed look. "Hey man, I got in last night from Summer and guess what? Door locked! It's called having some respect man, that is my room you know" he ranted onwards, but was silenced by one sharp look from Ryan, that spoke volumes of his brother's annoyance.

Sandy was a little shocked at the amount of aloofness Ryan displayed but as Aaron walked in, fully dressed in his full suit, cloak thrown over one shoulder, gloves tucked in his jacket pocket, Sandy felt like he needed a heavy coat to protect against the cold.

Ice blue eyes, met ice blue, and icicles formed in one set, and shame and guilt in the other.

Neither spoke to each other but Aaron greeted the family in his cheeriest way and took only a cup of coffee from the house, swiftly exiting with it, cloak fluttered behind him as he fled as fast as he could from the man.

Ryan took the cereal box into the TV room with him, and sat down on the couch watching whatever was on, not really seeing it, his eyes shaded over with a distracted look on his face.

Seth just looked at his parents. "Don't know, something to do with Marissa, I hope he gets over it soon and doesn't drag tall dark and weird into it." He said quite simply as he followed his friend out and plopped on the couch putting his feet up on the table.

Sandy and Kirsten exchanged a look and shook their heads-the phone rang and Sandy picked it up "Hello?" he asked.

"Hello Sandy" Came the soft voice on the other end of the phone.

"Araylen, Hi" The lawyer returned neatly and put down his coffee cup.

"We were excited to find out you got to stay with Ammon, how are you doing?" he asked gently.

"He's quite well actually, doing better I think with my presence, and having Aaron here to buffer me is doing great things for my state of mind…also knowing for certain that the rest of my family is definitely on their way makes me calmer too." he explained with a smile.

Sandy nodded and smiled himself, hearing the smile in the other man's voice. "Well that's just great, what can I do you for?" he returned neatly.

"At the risk of not talking to you and shunning you again, may I speak with Aaron if it isn't too much trouble?" Araylen asked.

Laughing, Sandy was already on his way to the pool house, the door stood open and he started on his way in the door and opened his mouth to call to him, but froze at the image presented to him.

Aaron lay on the bed curled up on his side, his whole body shaking with his sobs.

"Oh, um, well he's still asleep" Sandy said, ducking out before he was noticed.

Araylen frowned sharply and narrowed his eyes, he highly doubted that Aaron would shoot up in a stranger's home, and he would not have slept otherwise. "Alright" he said simply, eyes narrowed sharply.

"Well when he wakes, could you just tell him to drop by?" he asked.

"Sure thing" Sandy said, trying and failing to hide the concerned nervous tone in his voice as he hung up the phone.

Sandy looked in again and Aaron was in the bathroom, he could hear water running, a moment later and the tall French man emerged forcing himself to a calm look and then started as he saw Sandy, standing cautiously in his door.

"Good morning" he said, forcing a smile and bowing slightly to him.

Sandy forced a smile and said in his most exuberant way. "Oh, you are here"

Quirking both eyebrows, the taller man nodded his head and picked up his keys slipping them into his vest pocket and then his billfold slipping it into his outer jacket and once again scooping up his cloak and throwing it neatly over one shoulder. "Yes, occupied and about to go out, but here, may I get something for you?" Aaron asked, with as much cheery politesse as he could manage.

"Oh, no, Araylen called asking for you" he explained, gesturing at the phone with his one hand.

"I didn't think that you were here so I wasn't sure what to do" he explained.

Aaron nodded his head. "Ah yes, I was expecting that, thank you for coming to tell me, I will go to him for calling him with prove fruitless and it would be quicker to get there and speak to him in person" he said and patted Sandy on the shoulder as he exited quickly through the door with an insane stride.

Sandy just nodded and let him go, at times the other man seemed so sure and strong, such a protective and knowing force, but the he would get a look and Sandy would realize that he was only just a kid, another teenager who was only trying to do what he needed to do to take care of everybody else.

Aaron arrived at the hospital and came quickly to Ammon's room. "Araylen?" he called out as he entered.

The elf stood and looked at him, a sharp fatherly look in his eyes. "Sleeping?" he demanded and his jaw tightened.

"Sleeping?" Aaron asked gently, head tilted to one side.

"Sandy said that you were sleeping when I called for you, and I know that wouldn't be true unless you did in…"

Aaron interrupted him with a sharp, offended air to his voice "I did not, I was simply out of the room when Sandy came looking for me and the blankets in the bed must have made him think that" he said, only a half lie, for he didn't know if Sandy had only just arrived when he came out of the bathroom or not.

"Aaron, I have known you a long enough time now to know when something is bothering you so tell me" he said, resuming his post by Ammon's head and stroking his long hair, wishing he had an ounce of his husband's intuition.

With a long sigh, Aaron gave into Araylen's fathering kindness and threw up his hands in disgust of himself, then looked shyly over at the small, yet wise elf. "I am developing undue affections towards Ryan" came the timid revelation.

Araylen laughed heartily and patted his hand "he is rather handsome" he agreed with a little wink.

Aaron glared at him but the many time father gave his hand a squeeze and winked one more time as he turned to stroke Ammon's hair.

"It works in theory Ada, for he is not only straight but with a girl, he quite obviously loves and would go to any lengths to be with." Aaron ranted frustrated.

Araylen smiled mysteriously and then turned to fully face the young man. "Ah but there is a secret" he teased.

Both of Aaron's brows quirked though no other outward movement indicated that he had even heard, never mind had a reaction. "Oh?" He asked, trying to be casual.

"And what is that?" he prompted him after a moment of silence.

"Sometimes, all a person needs, all a person wants, is for someone to selflessly care for them, without ever expecting anything in return." He said sagely, with a wisdom befitting his age.

Aaron just looked confusedly after him, he opened his mouth to speak but was cut off when Araylen handed him a list. "I really need those things, f you don't mind" Araylen said, looking nervously at him.

Araylen was irrationally afraid that Aaron would withdraw his help and that he would be stuck with no money and nothing to do about it.

Aaron laughed at the look on his face and went immediately from lost and confused child to strong, confident young adult in a second. "Not at all, and I know I will get it all back" he said, interrupting before Araylen could make all of his apologies for using Aaron's money.

"However, we will be continuing this discussion later so do not forget your place" where his parting words, before the last fold of his cloak disappeared around the corner.

Ryan watched Aaron drive away from the house and cursed under his breath, he lamed it simply on wanting to determine whether or not he really meant to tell him something or not, but whether that was the truth behind his anger or not Ryan didn't know, he did know that he felt something burst in his heart the moment he watched the car drive away.

Running up to Seth's room, he sighed as he opened the door, "See, I didn't lock the door on you" Came the petulant voice from inside.

"Seth…" he began, frowning slightly, not quite sure what to say to explain himself.

"C'mon man, if something going on, let's hear it, buddy, I'm here for you" Seth said patting the bed beside him.

Ryan sighed heavily and sat on the desk chair, "It's just Aaron." He managed to force out, some comfort taking his soul at the idea of being able to talk a little.

"Yeah, that dude is way too weird, I mean it's gotta be like…a million dollars to dress like that every day" Seth shot off.

Ryan laughed and nodded, though inside his hear he felt a certain degree of coldness as realized that it was true no one could understand. "Well, last night…" Ryan began but was interrupted.

"Hey, he has that same look in your eye, like a whole conversation without the drudgery of a single word" Seth continued and finally Ryan just let him continue without trying to interrupt, eventually the smaller boy would come to a conclusion that would at least be a distraction, or would somehow relate to what he himself wanted to talk about.

"Summer was all impressed with his total singing skills which got me kinda jealous, but hey, any guy would be-but then Summer was like, 'he's totally gay Cohen' so now I ask you-does he seem gay? I mean he is kind of artsy, but he's also really rich and most really rich people are pretty artsy-and mom says his dad owns an opera company, which I guess makes sense for his being artsy because he grew up with it" Seth went on and on, almost never ending.

"Does it really matter?" Ryan asked, once there as a pause break.

"Well not really, I mean Luke's dad is really cool and also gay, but he we don't hang out with him, I think it would be very different if we hung out with him" Seth pointed out.

"Why?" Ryan asked, giving his friend a sharp look.

"Well, what if he ended up getting a crush on one of us?" Seth shot back.

Frowning Ryan shrugged and simply said "He'd never do that"

Seth threw up his hands and surged forwards "Why are you so sure?" He asked.

"Because he's not stupid and we both have girl friends" came the sharp and pointed reply.

"Well, there's that but the idea is more in theory, I mean, would you really want to change in front of a guy when you know he's watching?" Seth shot back.

"Seth, you watch me change in the morning" he returned, hands folded on his chest.

"Yeah but not for any…" he broke off as the door opened and Summer popped in.

"Hey" she said and looked nervously at Ryan.

"Summer…what is it?" Ryan asked in return, giving her the look in return.

"It's Marissa, I can't find her anywhere and the last place anyone saw her was with Oliver" she said urgently, chewing on her bottom lip.

Seth, still not convinced anything was off about Oliver let out a sound "C'mon Summer, she's probably sleeping in or something" he said and shrugged his shoulders playing with captain Oats.

"Yeah, except her mom is ready to call the cops dumb ass" Summer shot at him, throwing a pillow at him.

Ryan's eyes got cold and dark and all he could think of to say was "Aaron" and he got up and ran out before anyone could question him.

Ryan snagged his phone and called Araylen "Hel…" the librarian began to ask but Ryan interrupted before he could finish.

"Where the hell is Aaron?" he barked, snatching up his keys and darting out the door towards the jeep.

"He's gone to the shopping centre" Araylen said, confused at the urgency in Ryan's voice.

Ryan hung up and barrelled down the driveway and breaking almost every traffic law, arrived at the mall in just under ten minutes, his face set in an angry look, jaw tight and face pale as he got out and slammed the door with all his might.

Storming through the doors he tried to think of all the details he knew about Aaron, he checked the CD store, and the expensive clothing store, also the tailor's shop and the hare care place, but then it struck him he might have been shopping for Araylen.

Ryan took off running towards the bookstore and charged in grabbing one piece of the black cloak in his hand and one starched lapel and ripped the taller man's towards his own.

Aaron looked down, saw the desperate, helpless rage on the other boys face and immediately lifted a brow in concern.

"Marissa is missing, so if you have anything to say to me, say it now" He growled out through his teeth, fists clenching in his jacket, face inches away.

Taking in a deep breath Aaron released it and carefully avoided Ryan's eyes as he took another breath and released it again before he spoke. "Last night, when I went out driving I saw Trask purchase what I believe to be illegal drugs" Aaron said, carefully watching his face for his reaction.

At first, Ryan's face shifted with odd colours and then his muscle jumped vehemently in his cheek and accompanied by his fists clenching and unclenching. With sudden force, Aaron went flying two inches back and hit the wall as Ryan's fist connected with the side of his face, just beneath his eye.

Long slender fingers clutched at his face and Aaron watched the broader man walk away, sliding down the wall to recover his senses from the agonizing blow, making great efforts to make certain no one chased after Ryan.

Ryan drove with all haste to Oliver's hotel room suite, beating his time to the hospital by arriving in seven minutes. He ran up to the door and froze solid, blood curdling in his veins as he saw paramedics coming out of the room, Marissa on the gurney grey and sweating.

"Oliver" He roared, but stopped once more as he saw Oliver being wheeled out of the room, he looked a lot better then Marissa but he was still pale and sweating, very much in a deteriorated condition.

"Where are they being taken?" he demanded, and was off like a shot the moment he heard the name.

At the hospital meanwhile, Araylen was raiding the vending machine when two gurney's rushed by, one laden with a slightly familiar blonde head.

Taking a moment the librarian was already down the hall before he realized the girl had been Marissa, Ryan's girlfriend.

Turning around Araylen walked quickly back towards the activity and was just in time to see both the Cooper's and the Cohen's burst in the doors, after the gurneys.

Sandy saw Araylen and headed towards him while Kirsten and the rest followed Ryan's black clad back.

"What's happening?" the elf asked gently.

"We don't know much yet-Ryan just called Julie who was at our place, and said Marissa was on her way to the hospital" the lawyer returned quickly.

Eyebrows quickly raised and Araylen quickly began to back pedal. "I need to call Aaron" he said and turned and full on took off down the hallway, fortunately Sandy didn't catch onto anything turning in the smaller man's mind and simply called after him in agreement.

"Good idea-no one's going to be at the house for a while" Sandy called after him.

Aaron was in the mall bathroom holding ice to his swollen face, when his phone rang, he reached into his pocket and dug it out, holding it to the opposite side of his face and let out a subdued "Hello?"

"Marissa's here and they just wheeled her in with another person in the same kind of condition" Came the fatherly voice, knowing things without actually telling anyone anything.

"I knew that boy was up to no good' Aaron growled and hung up without any explanation.

Tossing his ice pack in the garbage he flew with all speed to his car and drove as fast as he dared through rush hour traffic to the hospital.

By the time he had arrived, Marissa's stomach had been pumped and everyone was sitting with her, waiting for news on Oliver.

Aaron went first to Ammon's room but ended up finding both rooms as both patients were in the same wing of the hospital.

Raising his hand to knock on the door the action was interrupted by angered, shouting from inside. "This is all your fault Atwood" a woman shouted angrily, presumably at Ryan.

"Julie" Sandy snapped but the door banged open and Ryan stormed out without responding himself.

"Ryan! Ryan!" Sandy called but the boy had already disappeared down the hallway.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Sandy disappeared into the room. "Julie, you had no right…"but the rest of the rant was lost as Aaron took off after Ryan, much more worried about the handsome man then the girl lying in the bed surrounded by people.

Ryan burst into the washroom and slammed his fist into every stall door, checking everyone to make sure no-one was inside the room with him, then he collapsed both palms flat against the wall, back to the door, shoulders heaving with half spent sobs, back arched and fingers clawed on the tiles as he gasped in breath after breath.

He thought he heard the door open at one point but when he didn't hear any footsteps he let out another sob and punched the wall with all his might.

Suddenly, long strong arms wound around his chest and a warm body pressed against his back.

Ryan's first reaction was to lash out but the taller man didn't say a word, nor made any concessions to try and do anything to make him 'feel better'.

Ryan let go and collapsed backwards against his chest, sobbing with all his might he turned around and took hold of one of Aaron's shoulders, pressing his hot, teary face against the cold, pale flesh of Aaron's barely revealed neck.

One arm wrapped around the other man's chest, and one hand fisted in his shirt Ryan let Aaron hold him and rub his back as he tried to shed the pain and injustice clawing at his soul.


	6. The Bruise

Chapter six

Chapter six

The Bruise

A/N- Thank you so very much for the reviews and once more, hugs in return. I hope all my readers (should they be Canadian) had a good thanksgiving, if not, I wish you all a happy thanksgiving for the future. Araylen, being happily married to Ammon but being unable to bare children, decided to adopt children. He has eight children that I can think of off the top of my head, and so he falls very easily into the role of father. I hope that's enough to explain Araylen, if it isn't please feel free to ask further. Also more changes to the way things work in the OC. Ryan's fight with Oliver happens in the pool house and not the school, because this story is set mostly during the summer months. Any slip ups referring to drug recovery times or treatments I'm sorry, I'm not exactly sure about what happens during that process. I don't think there's anything else to say on the subject so…

-Enjoy!!

It took Ryan almost two hours to calm down, two hours of alternatively crying, pacing, ranting and lapsing into angry silence. He beat the hell out of the walls and pulled at his hair, curled up on the floor and laid down in full, completely losing himself in emotion.

Aaron held him, watched, listened, and kept silent, caught his hands and pulled them away from his face and hair, rubbed his back as he pounded the wall accordingly. He had come first to ask him if he was ok, and then the look on his face had been too much and the silence seemed appropriate. The look on his face made the taller man willing to risk everything to just comfort him a moment, and when Ryan broke away he prepared himself for the barrage but all that came was one broken, emotional word "Stay?"

Aaron nodded his head, tears swimming in his eyes though he did not let them fall-and his calm came just in time, Sandy had finally come looking for Ryan, having been convinced by Kirsten that it was time to leave the hospital.

"Hey, you ok?" he asked as he spotted the boy washing his face by the sink, glancing momentarily at the grave faced French man.

"Yeah, sorry, had to go for a walk" Ryan lied with facility, not really looking at Sandy.

"I get that-that woman is a vulture" Sandy said, rubbing his hands through his hair with a sigh.

"Ryan, I'm really sorry about her-we're getting ready to go but it's ok if you want to hang around…you do have the other car, and if you still need time, no one would say anything…" he began carefully, not sure if any of this was ok to say.

Ryan paused nervously and shrugged his shoulders. "ok, sure, I'll follow you in a bit, I'm just going to wait until Marissa's alone and creep in to see her" he said softly and then sighed gently.

Aaron felt his heart drop to his knees, it had only been a moment with Ryan, a private, special moment and now it was gone, and with its disappearance, he desperately wished that he had prepared himself more for the pain that etched across his soul.

Sandy nodded his head and ducked out of the room without further words.

Ryan turned towards Aaron and smiled, kind of embarrassed and scared, unable to meet his eyes. "Thanks" was all he could manage to say before he ran fingers nervously through his hair and ran out of the room, without another word.

Aaron slumped down the wall and pulled his knees up to his chest to think, to try and understand what had happened and what his next move should be.

Aaron went back to the Cohen's extremely late, he stayed and had talked to Araylen, desperate for help and his own comfort, Araylen had held his hand and did his best to explain to Aaron the position Ryan had been in, comforting what he saw as a hurt, frightened little boy. Doing his best to fortify his child's heart so that he wouldn't give up.

When the tall man did walk into the pool house, he froze as he heard shouting from inside.

"What in the hell?" Ryan's voice echoed out, dangerous, furious, dark and low.

"She was only trying to protect me" Oliver's voice cried back, menacing but only in the sense of it was filled with manipulation and anger.

"Protect you? At the risk of losing herself? What kind of right do you have to ask her of that? She could have died!!" Ryan roared back with all his might.

"Well it just goes to show you that you could never get her to risk her life for you, it's not a bad thing, it's an accident, and never mind that, she's alive, which should be all that matters" The smaller man said, a maniacal grin on his face.

Aaron could almost feel Ryan grinding his teeth, clenching his fists, feel the muscles in his legs coiling and bunching, Aaron bit down hard on the inside of his cheek to stop that though in it's tracks.

"I would never ask her to, I would never risk her life, it isn't a good thing and it doesn't matter if she's alive, she could have died" The man seethed angrily, beyond angrily, he was furious.

"Why? Of course you don't want devotion from her, you just want her to be yours, your possession to play with whenever you want, you don't care about her problems being so wrapped up in being Mr. Chino" Oliver snarled, almost genuinely which was terrifying.

The sharp crunch of flesh on flesh was the next audible sound and Aaron saw Oliver sprawl on the floor out of the corner of the door.

Bringing his long, slender fingers up to touch the side of his face, Aaron briefly touched the dark purple bruise on his own face under his eye, reminded quickly of how much damage Ryan's fists could do.

Laughing darkly Oliver got up, a wide grin on his face as he walked towards the door. "What do you think Marissa is going to say to this?" He asked as blood dripped down from his lip.

Ryan had been advancing, slow and menacing, anger glowing, turning his eyes dark and frightening, but at Oliver's words he stopped short. "GO to hell" He snarled sharply.

Oliver laughed and walked out cradling his wrist which he had fallen on, tilting his head back to ease his bleeding nose, snickering under his breath as he did.

Hearing things being thrown around and broken inside the pool house, Aaron stood in silence, hiding himself further in the shadows as he waited for Ryan to leave.

A moment later Ryan emerged and his jaw was clenched and his face was white, Aaron could see the bruises forming on his knuckles and the tears pooled in his eyes, unwilling to fall.

Aaron went in after he had left and his room was in shambles, horrible disarray.

A long sigh broke his lips and he began to set things to rights. "Oh Ryan" he whispered as he set the chair upright and sat in it, his eyes glanced down the path towards the ocean as he saw Ryan's leather clad back disappearing down the sandy hill.


	7. The awakening

Chapter Seven

The Awakening

A/N I have full intentions of continuing this story not to worry-again I apologize for all delays because I am in university at the moment and finding time to do anything is…well, a challenge to say the least. Again, thank you to Egan for letting me use Ammon…small chapter but some fluff interlude from all the drama.

-Enjoy!

Aaron let him go sensing that he would want some time alone alone-confident Ryan was a strong man, Aaron didn't –really- think that the blonde would do something rash, like throwing himself into the sea, though Aaron could not help but worry a little bit.

When Aaron found the morning to have dawned, bright, early and full of strange and misunderstood promises he expected to find the house dark and tense. He took a deep breath and began to walk towards the back doors that would allow him entrance into the house, and was interrupted by Kirsten running to fetch him.

She opened her mouth to greet him but instead was silenced by the nasty bruise on Aaron's face, "What happened?" she asked, horrified.

Forcing a broad smile to his lips he just shook his head and waved his hand dismissively "I did not speak as quickly as I should have-I assure you, it is entirely my fault." He said.

The mother paused a moment and then shook her head "I have a surprise for you" she said, trying to get the worry away from her face in the place of her good news.

Aaron lifted a single brow and followed the kind hearted woman towards the house. As she flung open the door, Araylen was immediately visible inside the doors.

The short little elf was exceedingly excited and was shifting in his seat, he could barely sit down at all. The look on his face was of such arduous joy-pure radiance and relief that Aaron felt his heart warm instantly.

Taking several steps forward and Aaron shook his head, a smile and cautious joy on his lips. "Is it…." He trailed off.

Araylen rose and embraced his surrogate child, not able to say a single word just yet.

After a long almost tearful reunion, Araylen broke away and looked at his new friends and old pupil "My news is three fold" the librarian said and continued shaking with energy as he stepped away from Aaron to address them all with joyful importance.

"One, our credit information came through, so I can start paying for things myself and as well as paying you back" Aaron smiled warmly and shook his head at Araylen's silly insistence. Kirsten clasped her hands to her heart, Sandy laughed out loud and clapped Araylen's back firmly.

"Secondly-the rest of our gang should be here by the end of the day, and we have a good floor and a half of a hotel already on tab-courtesy of your father" Araylen said, chewing on his bottom lip and gasping for breath.

Aaron shook his head and then just sat down in utter disbelief, scrubbing his face with relief, exhaustion and mild comfort as he thought of everything that was coming. Seth shot a look of horrified disbelief at his father who just shook his head.

Araylen broke into his next bit of news before anyone could say anything else "and Ammon woke up briefly at about six this morning" he finished rattling from head to toe from excitement, relief and joy.

Leaping to his feet again Aaron let out an expletive in his native tongue, tears springing to his head and running down his face before he could stop them-he looked quickly around, and let them fall because Ryan was not there.

"Oh my goodness" Kirsten said, getting out the first words as she clutched at Sandy happily.

Sandy kissed his wife firmly on the lips and then leapt up himself shaking Araylen's hand and patting him on the back "Fantastic news! All of it, and I'm glad to see some good news finally comin' your way" the charismatic lawyer said grinning at the smaller man.

The elf nodded and turned to the French man, most eager for his words and joy, Aaron hugged him tightly "I cannot believe it" he whispered to his friend, and then the taller man picked up the smaller right up off the ground spun him around and put him back down in joy, stepping away to tease the elf with his eyes.

Kirsten looked towards the hall way as the front door opened and Sandy began to speak "Ryan, You're missing all the excitement" he called out to his son, but jumped as he caught sight of an impossibly tall man wearing only the hospital pants he had been put to bed in. His shoulder length black hair was tousled and knotted and he was pale and exhausted looking. He had a bandage wrapped all around his waist and up across part of his back, slightly bloodied but not the stuff of a horror movie spectacle. His eyes were half open and he seemed to be smelling his way to something.

Kirsten put a hand to her throat as a scream lodged itself halfway out of her body.

Aaron's eyes widened as arms wound around his waist, lips lovingly licking at his ears ever so slightly, nuzzling at his neck simultaneously. "Araylen" The deep voice murmured.

Araylen bit down on his bottom lip and tried to fight away a smile "Ammon" he said by way of direction.

"What are you doing here??" he asked as Aaron wound an arm around the mans waist to support the barely functioning man.

"Araylen" Ammon repeated purring as he found the side of Aaron's neck again.

"Um…." Was all Kirsten could think of to say.

"Oh Ammon" the elf whispered and reached out to touch his husband's face to comfort him.

"I'm sorry for this intrusion" Araylen said softly, his soft eyes looking at Kirsten and Sandy to apologize.

Kirsten just shook her head looking at Sandy with an open mouth and shocked demeanour "No matter, but um…you should probably get him back to the hospital" She said in a tight, confused voice.

Not able to think of anything else to say Araylen nodded his head, lips pursed tightly together, still fighting away the smile, he gestured for Aaron to help him lead his husband away.

As the small but immensely strange group shuffled out, Sandy looked at their departing backs and then turned to his own family in the kitchen, he just threw up his hands as both his son and his wife looked at him for some kind of explanation as to what was going on. He shook his head and walked out, amused and confused as to the new things that were going on in his life.

"Oh…where's Ryan?" Kirsten said, trying to return their lives to some semblance of normality.

"No. Friggin' clue." Seth said, eyes wide as he still struggled to understand what had just happened.


End file.
